Bangalore: Bandh blocks Rs 200 cr to Karnataka exchequer

Bangalore: Though the Bharat Bandh was successful in bringing the city’s businesses to a halt, a few restaurants and street hawkers continued with their routine business. According to K Shiva Shanmugam, president, Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), there was a loss of over Rs 1,200 crore on the turnover and the state Exchequer incurred a loss of Rs 200 crore on Thursday.

“The loss estimate springs up from Rs 80,000 crore that is annually collected as VAT and other forms of direct taxes from the state. Of this, Rs 30,000 crore per year is collected from VAT and Rs 5o,000 per year approximately from direct taxes,” explained K Shanmugam.

At Kumaraswamy Layout, a few hawkers set up stalls a few hours later than usual, but had very less customers. “Every day we make a business of `6,000. Only a few customers turned up on Thursday and I managed to earn only Rs 600,” said Babajaan, who owns a fruit store in Kumaraswamy Layout.

Kaleem, another fruit vendor on Double Road, was worried that he may not make up for all the lost business. He set up his shop only at 2 pm, after he felt the situation was stable. “There were rumours in the morning about attacks in some areas. So, I decided to come late,” said Kaleem. Big hotels and restaurants would be more affected, he opined.

However, restaurants remained open regardless of the bandh. Sumanth, cashier at the Southern Spice food joint on Residency Road, said that about 75 per cent of the customers came in to the restaurant since morning. SLV Refreshments, a food joint in ISRO Layout that was open on Thursday, had double the number of customers. Prakash, who manages the place said the usual turnover of Rs 20,000 was likely to double as it was the only joint open in the vicinity of the layout.

Essential commodities like milk and medicines were available as the KMF milk booths were operational and so were the medical stores. On the other hand, in many major areas of the city provision stores remained closed except for a few who opened for an hour in the afternoon to receive their daily stocks.